THE STAR (1952)

JOAN CRAWFORD was said to be the INSPIRATION for the CHARACTER Margaret Elliot, who was CREATED by Crawford's longtime friends, screenwriters Katherine Albert and Dale Eunson. But the FRIENDSHIPS would be TERMINATED by Crawford when this film went into PRODUCTION. Rumors have it that Crawford DECLINE the role, but in reality, it was NEVER OFFERED to her. Elliot is an AGING MOVIE STAR who has a hard time coming to GRIPS with the REALITY that her FILM CAREER is OVER and has become a BORDERLINE ALCOHOLIC.  Bette Davis was more than HAPPY to ACCEPT the role and MODEL Elliot AFTER CRAWFORD her LONG TIME ARCH-RIVAL. Davis also added that this SCREENPLAY was one of BEST  she has EVER READ about a CAREER-OBSESSED ACTRESS.

PLOT SYNOPSIS (Spoilers Alert !!!) :

THE STAR (1952) opens with the scene with Margaret Elliot (Bette Davis) outside the AUCTION HOUSE that is SELLING OFF her PERSONAL EFFECTS to appease her creditors. Margaret was once at the TOP of her game, a MAJOR Hollywood STAR and an Academy Award winner, but now BANKRUPTED. After a string of BAD MOVIES, BAD INVESTMENTS, and now being a MATURE  ACTRESS in her 40s, Hollywood has turned its back on her. Margaret REFUSES to believe that she is WASHED UP, she only needs ONE MORE PICTURE to put her on the TOP again. 

 . 

SUDDENLY Margaret sees her agent Hatty Stone ( Walter Anderson) leaving the AUCTION HOUSE carrying a CRYSTAL CANDELABRA that ONCE BELONG to her. Stone apologizes but tells her that he had bought it because his wife always admired it. Margaret SNARLS back "BE A SCAVENGER! PICK MY BONES. Don't touch me with your TEN PERCENT HANDS."

With her next breath, Margaret asks for forgiveness for her rude OUTBURST. After EATING HUMBLE PIE, Margaret REQUEST a LOAN her Agent and a PART in a PICTURE. Stone DENIES  her loan request because she already owes him money. However Stone advises Margaret to SEEK OUT the LOAN from her EX-HUSBAND who is doing quite well from his western films.

In DESPERATION, Margaret goes to visit her ex- husband's house for MONEY  she needs for BACK RENT for her MODEST STUDIO APARTMENT or she will face EVICTION. Unfortunately, her ex-husband is on location, Margaret, however, sees her daughter Gretchen (Natalie Wood) who thinks her mother has come to take her home. Margaret explains to her daughter that she CAN'T TAKE HER HOME yet, not until she GETS her NEXT PICTURE which will be soon and then she can COME LIVE WITH  HER.

 Margaret not knowing where to go next decides to go back to her modest studio apartment. But before she could enter her apartment, she was confronted with the landlady (Katherine Warren) who wants the rent. To matters worst, waiting inside her apartment is her sister (Fay Baker ) and shiftless husband (David Alpert) who had come for their monthly allowance for taking care of their mother. They seemed to be SHOCKED about the REVELATION that she's BANKRUPT and REFUSES help Margaret financially, even though she SUPPORTED them for years... buying their house they live in, paying their medical bills, and finding her deadbeat brother in law jobs that he purposely lost. Margaret blows her top and throws them out.

Margaret becomes so STRESSED OUT, that she GRABS her OSCAR and heads out to get DRUNK. She spends her last money on a BOTTLE OF WHISKEY and goes on her TOUR of the OLD NEIGHBORHOOD of RICH and FAMOUS MOVIE STARS. Then she comes to her MANSION. Well not hers anymore, but she used to own it.

Margaret becomes OVERWHELMED  with all the LOSS she ENDURED and heads back ON THE ROAD AGAIN. This time she is ALL OVER the road, SIDESWIPING a car which CATCHES  the ATTENTION of LAW ENFORCEMENT. Blinded by her grief, Margaret tries to ESCAPE  by OUTRUNNING the POLICE.  The CHASE reaches the end with the WASHED-UP MOVIE STAR having nowhere else go but by FOOT. Margaret is NEARLY TACKLED to the ground while making the ARREST. 

Margret is NOT a HAPPY JAILBIRD in a jail cell with CRIMINALS. This is not the way to treat HOLLYWOOD ROYALTY. Sadly, Margaret has hit ROCK BOTTOM amongst JAILBIRDS who don't RECOGNIZE that they are in the presence of a BONAFIDE MOVIE STAR.

Sterling Hayden plays Davis 's love interest Jim Johansen, who was once her leading man BAILS Margaret OUT OF JAIL the next mourning. Jim tells Margaret that he wanted to RETURN the FAVOR that she had done a 'SWELL'" thing for him once. Jim continues to go down MEMORY LANE, that he had gone to REPAIR her BATHHOUSE and a few days later he was an ACTOR starring opposite with her in the film called "FAITHLESS". Margaret REMEMBERS, and the STAGE NAME she had given him ... BARRY LESTER. Jim tells her that he LEFT show business, after making that one picture, which he considers one of the WORST movies ever made. Jim also CONFESSES to Margaret that he has always LOVED HER  from AFAR.

Jim tries to bring Margaret back to her modest apartment, only to find that the lock has been changed due to owing back rent. It seems to be the end of the line for poor Margaret having no place to go. Thankfully, GALLANTRY isn't dead, well at least not in this picture anyways, Jim BRINGS Margaret BACK TO HIS PLACE for a few days or until she can get back on her feet again. It seems  Jim owns and operates his own business in the shipyard. 

Jim tries to explain to his new roommate Margaret that maybe in this NEW CHAPTER in HER LIFE, she needs to FORGET that she was a GREAT STAR and go back to BECOMING A WOMAN AGAIN. Margaret agrees and takes on a regular job in a department store. But she is soon recognized by two old biddies who want to see the manager, for hiring her after she has been in jail. Margaret loses her cool, calls them a couple "OLD BAGS"  and leaves the store terminating her employment. 

  
Now determined more than ever, Margaret DEMANDS her agent to talk to the studio about the LEAD ROLE in the upcoming film  " THE FATAL WINTER. " Harry gets her one, but not the role she wants. The role of the DOWDY OLDER SISTER and she has to take a SCREEN TEST. Margaret is INSULTED that a star of her stature has to do a screen test. She does it, but her way, UNDOING all the efforts by the hair and make- up to make her look like a RECLUSIVE SPINSTER. Margaret pulls OUT all the stops trying to make herself GLAMOUROUS hoping to steal the young role from upcoming star Barbara Lawrence.

The AUDITION was DISASTROUS, Margaret DESPERATELY trying to act like a girl of eighteen, BATTING HER EYES and FLIRTING, which goes AGAINST the way the CHARACTER was written.  The next day, Margaret EAGER with anticipation to VIEW her SCREEN TEST, but is DEALT with the HARSH REALITY that she was NOT a GROUNDBREAKING REVELATION but a laughable ROTTEN  joke.

Harry finds Margaret SOBBING on the SCREENING ROOM FLOOR. Harry insisted that Margaret stay with him and his wife for much-needed rest. So much for REST and RELAXATION, Margaret is AWAKENED by NOISES downstairs. Margaret decides to see what's going on. It seems that Harry and his wife are hosting a party. Margaret is ENCOURAGED to RUB ELBOWS with the HOLLYWOOD BRASS.

Eventually, Margaret is INTRODUCED  to a SCREENWRITER, who has the RIGHT script for her. He tells Margaret that she is PERFECT for the role of the FADED MOVIE STAR, who is STRUGGLING to make it back on the BIG SCREEN once again. But She Can't, because she's too OLD and PATHETIC. At the moment, a light bulb in Margaret 's head must have gone bringing her BACK TO REALITY from the CINEMATIC DREAM WORLD she lived in. Margaret has NO INTEREST in playing herself, a WASHED UP HAS BEEN  and bolts from the party without saying goodbye to her host and hostess.

No longer living in the past, Margaret DECIDE to LIVER HER LIFE in the HERE AND NOW. Margaret's eyes FINALLY WIDE OPEN, accepting that she is NO LONGER a YOUNG actress or will ever be again. Hastily Margaret speeds over to RETRIEVE HER DAUGHTER from her ex-husband's house. Gretchen is HAPPY to be REUNITED with her mother who has taken her LIVE with her. As THE STAR (1952) comes to its conclusion,  Margaret finds her happily after with Jim as a NORMAL WOMAN instead of a MANUFACTURED  HOLLYWOOD  STAR.

FILM FACTS:

Bette Davis was nominated for a role in THE STAR, even though the picture was a NOT critical or box office success. Shirley Booth won the Best Actress Award for COME BACK LITTLE SHEBA, the role in which Bette Davis turned down to perform in THE STAR (1952). 

Bette Davis announced that she modeled Margaret Elliot after her arch-rival, Joan Crawford. Davis even wears Crawford's famous ankle strap shoes in the disastrous screen test.

Bette Davis uses her ONE of her two OSCARS that she won for Best Actress in "Drunken Scene " in THE STAR (1952).

Bette Davis mocks Joan Crawford in THE STAR (1952) using the phrase " BLESS YOU" who usually signed her autographs to thank her adoring public.

 IMMORTAL DIALOGUE :                                    

"Be a SCAVENGER …. Pick my BONES.

                                   " My six months with daddy are up."

" He wasn't even Miss Elliot's husband. He was her lover by appointment."

                              " You DON'T seem to know WHO  I am ."

                      "C'mon OSCAR ….Let's get DRUNK !!"

"On the RIGHT, Ladies and Gentlemen. is the home of Mitzi Gaynor, a rising young star."

    " It's a DISGRACE to  wait on a couple OLD BAGS like you !"

             "You're going to have a LITTLE BROTHER."

THE CAST :
  Bette Davis (Margaret Elliot), Sterling Hayden (Jim Johannsen),
 Natalie Wood (Gretchen Elliott), Warner Anderson (Harry Stone),
Jim Morrison (Minor Watson), Fay Baker (Faith), June Travis (Phyllis Stone), Barbara Woodell (Peggy Morgan), Paul Frees (Richard Stanley), Barbara Lawrence (as Herself), Herb Vigran (Roy)         

  MY BOTTOM LINE IS ...
THE STAR (1952) shines as a What Price Hollywood Doomsday Drama with Ms. Davis as the actress in distress. Aging is not a girl's best friend in Hollywood for sure, especially after 40 in which Davis knows too well. After the accolades that Davis received for ALL ABOUT EVE (1950) would become a thing of the past. Davis would become taunted by the sting of the poisonous pens from critics alike, which panned most of her films throughout the 1950s, including this picture THE STAR (1950), But Davis would be nominated for her portrayal of Margaret Elliott. 

Davis quipped, that she modeled Margaret Elliot after Joan Crawford, but in reality, Crawford was never completely washed up then, Crawford starred in one melodrama after the next throughout the 1950s. I think THE STAR (1950) mirrored Davis's life as well as Crawford, which both actresses had drinking problems due to the turmoil, they suffered through to stay in a youth-obsessed Hollywood. I really enjoyed THE STAR (1950) with it's over the top melodramatic, but unfortunately, there is a truth that lies beneath.